


8 Bit Ho

by Codexfawkes



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Song Lyrics, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8407057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Codexfawkes/pseuds/Codexfawkes
Summary: “I swam leagues for you, I ran miles for you, I fought those things that shoot lasers out their eyes for you. I’ve gone through hell and back just to make you smile, what’s it take to get my cartridge blown once in a while?” Darcy rapped.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. Any characters used from the Marvel universe and any quotes from anywhere are not mine. Joss is Boss.
> 
> This fic is not Age of Ultron compliant. SHIELD still fell, Hydra does have the scepter and they have to get it back, but other than that nothing in Ultron exists. The Avengers are helping Steve and Sam look for Bucky, there will be no murder bots or Civil Wars. Why? Cause I said so.

Bruce had no idea what to make of his soul mark when it finally arrived. He’d spent almost the entirety of his seventeen years thinking that there was no match for him in the universe, that maybe his father was right and he _was_ less than other people. Then finally a few days before his high school graduation he felt a tingling warmth spread along his right bicep. Yanking his sleeve up, Bruce stared at the black words in looping script, not sure if they meant he should play more video games, or less.

Darcy Lewis had been born with a soul mark that indicated that not only would she speak to this person first, but she would confuse them. As Darcy grew up and developed an unsettling ability to argue her parents and teachers in circles, well it made more sense. Her father swore it meant she was going to grow up to be a lawyer, her mother always answered with “I hope not.”

Darcy herself was never really bothered by her odd words, she just figured that if he or she was confused she’d help them understand. Darcy liked helping people, she helped the younger kids in school who needed it, her dolls were the neatest and most well cared for dollies in history. She even had a rotation schedule for her stuffed animals so they all got equal cuddle time. She’d hate for one of them to feel left out.

As she got older this desire to help extended to giving her things to friends, bringing strays home, and as a teenager volunteering at the local animal shelter. Her father declared she would end up as a vet, her mother rolled her eyes and told him to stop trying to shove careers on her.

By the time Darcy started working for Jane she was the ultimate baby/pet sitter that everyone wanted to hire. She could have made a fortune charging for her tutoring services at Culver but refused to take payment for helping out a fellow student who needed it. When her adviser admitted he’d made a mistake about how many science credits she needed to finish her Masters in Political Science, Darcy would have been well within her rights to get angry with him but instead she rolled with it and started looking for internships that would give her the required credits.

Darcy decided to stay with Jane after graduation, not because of a deep abiding love of science, but because Jane needed her. The older woman had somehow become her best friend. Plus Jane needed someone on her side who knew she was right and had been through the whole Thor thing with her, especially after SHIELD stole Erik. Sure, she could have taken the low level analyst job Coulson had offered her, but Darcy had no intention of joining the MIB’s. Not unless Wil Smith was doing the offering and had a list of celebrities that were actually aliens to share. So yeah, SHIELD could suck it. Not to mention staying with Jane included nights on the roof of the old car dealership turned lab smoking pot and giggling about how hot Thor had been and if he maybe had a cut, non-crazy brother for Darcy. Or sister, she wasn’t fussy about gender.

By the time the Dark Elves had come and gone, Darcy and Jane had cemented their relationship and commitment to stay together. Even though the money being thrown at them now that Jane’s theories had proven true meant she could hire an assistant who was actually a scientist. When Darcy pointed that out, Jane merely scoffed and declared that Darcy already knew her methods and equipment so it would be a waste of time and resources to train someone new.

After SHIELD fell, Thor was needed to rejoin the Avengers to help get Loki’s scepter back from Hydra. He managed to convince Jane and Darcy to relocate to Avengers Tower. Partly for their own protection, and partly so Thor and Jane wouldn’t be unnecessarily away from each other.

When the women moved into the tower, Bruce and Tony were in California speaking at a tech expo on behalf of Stark Industries, so they missed the excitement of greeting new people. Darcy joked that they’d agreed to the speaking engagement to avoid having to help move the heavy equipment that Jane refused to let the movers lift.

The day after they returned from the conference Bruce walked off the elevator and headed for his lab. As he approached the space that had been set up for Jane, he heard loud music and looked in through the glass walls. He saw two women dancing around and one seemed to be singing along with the music. Tony appeared at his side with an amused grin.

“Come on,” Tony said leading the way to the door. He opened the door and a wall of sound washed over them.

“ _I swam leagues for you, I ran miles for you, I fought those things that shoot lasers out their eyes for you. I’ve gone through hell and back just to make you smile, what’s it take to get my cartridge blown once in a while_?” Darcy rapped.

Bruce stifled a laugh behind his hand, but Tony had no such compunction and laughed out loud gaining their attention. Jane blushed and hid her face, Darcy on the other hand simply grinned and continued, now looking at Tony. 

“ _You tell me I’m the one my love for you’s big, but you’d rather spend your time with a heartless pig? I’m trying to move on but you won’t let me go cause you ain’t nothin but an 8 bit ho._ ” Darcy rapped, her words causing Bruce to freeze, his eyes going wide behind his glasses. Darcy, oblivious to his reaction kept going.

“ _Go save yourself now, that’s my final note, I’m done being used, Tri-forcin that down your throat. I’ve finally leveled up and I can find the seed, and it’s high time to find an upgrade for me. So I wish you luck and I hope you find love, but in the end it’s just you and a power glove. You know what’s not a secret to everyone?”_ she asked before her eyes moved to Bruce with a grin. “ _You’re an 8 bit ho.”_ Darcy declared before the song went to music.

“I have no idea what that means.” Bruce blurted out. Darcy froze as they stared at each other in shock. Bruce was having a hard time truly believing this young, beautiful, energetic woman could possibly be his soul mate.

“You…” Darcy said surprise running through her. “I am so sorry!” she exclaimed after a moment of staring at each other. “I can’t believe you’ve been stuck with ‘you’re an 8 bit ho’ on your skin because of me. I am so, so sorry.” Darcy apologized her eyes wide. Tony realized what was going on and burst out laughing, he suddenly understood why Bruce would never talk about his soul mark.

“Oh fuck, that’s hysterical, 8 bit ho.” Tony laughed almost falling over.

“Maybe we should discuss this someplace else,” Bruce suggested, pointedly glancing at the cackling Tony. 

“Solid plan,” Darcy agreed heading for the door. Bruce followed her out of the lab and onto the elevator.

“Jarvis, will you take us to the garden please?” Bruce asked.

“Certainly Dr. Banner,” Jarvis agreed as the elevator started moving.

“The tower has a garden?” Darcy asked surprised.

“It’s a greenhouse structure on the roof, Pepper designed it to be very tranquil,” Bruce explained.

“I can only imagine how important a tranquil hide away is for someone who deals with Tony all the time,” Darcy grinned.

“I’m used to Tony at this point,” Bruce chuckled.

“I meant Pepper actually,” Darcy smiled up at him. Bruce laughed as the doors slid open letting them onto the roof. As he’d described, a large glass greenhouse took up most of the space. Bruce led her to the doors which slid open letting out a wave of warm, moist air.

“Most of the plants growing here are native to the area, with a few notable exceptions,” Bruce informed her as they walked into the greenhouse. Lush grass spread out under their feet, bushes and small trees were strategically placed around a gravel path and interspersed with flower beds. She could hear running water as she followed Bruce around a curve in the path, where she saw a small waterfall running down into a pond set in a clearing surrounded by bamboo trees. Stepping into the circle of trees Darcy saw a Buddha statue and a small fire pit near a large cushion on the ground.

“Wow, this is amazing,” Darcy breathed taking in the meditation space.

“This is the one place I know for sure Tony won’t follow me,” Bruce explained with a wry twist of his lips.

“What about the bathroom?” Darcy asked curious.

“He’s walked in and started talking to me while I was in the shower,” Bruce admitted.

“Dude, that’s **not** okay,” Darcy breathed.

“He’s got boundary issues, but it’s actually kind of nice to be around someone who wants to be around me,” Bruce confessed as he settled onto the cushion gesturing for her to join him. 

“He could be near you and ya know knock too, not mutually exclusive concepts here Bruce,” Darcy teased. Bruce smiled, amazed at how easy it was to be around her, to talk to this young woman he literally just met. Then he remembered why that was and his face fell.

“Darcy, I…look being my soulmate, it’s…not great. I mean you’re young, and beautiful, and educated, you have a wonderful new job; trust me, I am the last thing you need in your life,” Bruce told her sincerely.

“You could be right,” Darcy agreed softly. Bruce forced himself to ignore the pain of rejection that lanced through him. It was better this way, her seeing reason. “But, you could be wrong too,” Darcy continued unaware of his inner conflict. “I know all the reasons that us as anything more than friends sounds like a really bad idea. Capital H bad. I get it,” Darcy told him. “Still, I think that it would be a mistake to just dismiss the whole soulmate thing out of hand,” Darcy said.

“I’m dangerous, Hulk is dangerous. I can’t give you what a normal relationship, a normal marriage looks like. I can’t have children Darcy, the radiation…it’s just not possible. Also, as much as I mostly have Hulk under control, he can break out when I’m scared, threatened, or really angry. If he hurt you…” Bruce trailed off.

“Has Hulk ever broken out around the team or anyone else you’ve cared about?” Darcy wondered.

“Yes,” Bruce answered.

“What happened?” Darcy pressed.

“My ex-girlfriend Betty got knocked over, bruised pretty bad. When it happened with the team, I almost killed Natasha,” Bruce admitted his voice toneless.

“How long had you known her when that happened?” Darcy persisted.

“Less than a day,” Bruce answered confused as  to where she was going with this.

“So you didn’t consider her a friend yet? And what about Betty, did Hulk knock her around on purpose?” Darcy wanted to know.

“I didn’t, and no, he wasn’t trying to hurt Betty. It still happened though,” Bruce snapped.

“So Hulk almost killed someone he didn’t know who we both can agree is definitely a threat. He also accidentally hurt someone he did care about. What did he do then?” Darcy kept going.

“He carried her away, to this cave, protected her, until she was well enough to take care of herself,” Bruce related slowly.

“In other words, he did the best he could to make up for his mistake. That’s all any of us can do. When I was a kid, my mom once sent my cousin into my bedroom to wake me up for school. We walked to school together and I’d over slept. My cousin Jenny, she startled me awake and I instinctively kicked her to protect myself. I felt awful, apologized over and over. I fucked up, hurt someone I loved, but I also did everything I could to make it better. Should I still beat myself up over it?” Darcy reasoned gently.

“That’s different,” Bruce argued.

“It’s not that different, and I think deep down you know that. Look, I’m not asking for a marriage proposal here. I’m not even asking for a date. What I’d like is for us to become friends, see if we’re even really attracted to each other. Maybe we’ll get on like gang busters and fall epically in love with each other in a Shakespeare to the edge of doom kind of way. Or maybe we’ll be platonic besties who do lunch and bitch about Stark together,” Darcy said getting a laugh from Bruce. “But we’re never gonna know what we **_could_** be, if we never give each other a chance. So, I Darcy Marie Lewis, am officially stating that being fully aware of your Hulking Avenger side and your part time career as a mad scientist, am willing to give this connection between us a chance to develop into whatever it’s meant to be. Now, you with me doc?” she asked holding out her hand for him to shake. 

Bruce stared at her in utter disbelief, either she was completely insane or a walking miracle. And she had a point, he’d never know which if he didn’t at least attempt to get to know her. Bruce slowly reached out and clasped her hand in his.

“This is crazy,” Bruce observed even as he found himself grinning at her.

“Guess it’s a good thing we live in Wonderland,” Darcy teased.

 

 

Shakespeare Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

**Author's Note:**

> I firmly blame this fic on Patrick Donahue and his catchy tunes. Check out the song that inspired this fic.   
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=632k9-5OlD0


End file.
